


One last mistake

by Aulophobia



Series: Hiding [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy(ish) Ending, Clubbing, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Infidelity, M/M, Runaway Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:54:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23983387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aulophobia/pseuds/Aulophobia
Summary: Harry Potter is at his bachelor party and has time for one last mistake.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Series: Hiding [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1730920
Comments: 29
Kudos: 266





	1. One last mistake

**Author's Note:**

> So this was a short fic to essentially try and ease my writers block on my very nearly finished much longer work.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the night before his wedding and Harry Potter is miserable

Harry was drunk. He was out in a muggle club, in London, with Ron and his brothers’. Seamus, Dean and Neville were also there. Tomorrow was his wedding day and Ron had insisted on throwing this bachelor party. Harry didn’t exactly feel in the partying mood though. Tomorrow was meant to be the day where he married the love of his life. He was meant to be happy. Instead he felt like he was suffocating. A black cloud wrapping around him. The club was loud, hot and filled with the fug of cigarette smoke. He was sat in the booth they had managed to grab at the start of the night, a glass of overpriced whiskey in his hand. He watched Ron, Dean and Seamus dancing outrageously to whatever passed for music in this place. George was over at the bar flirting with the pretty blond girl who was serving him. He felt disconnected from all of it. Harry reached into his pocket and grabbed out his fags. Tapping one out of the packed he put it into his mouth. Then unable to locate his lighter he sent a quick burst of magic to the end of the cigarette, lighting it. He ignored the fact that any of the muggles could have seen. He couldn’t bring himself to care. He took a long drag of the cigarette and leant back. His mobile was sat on the table tempting him. If he really thought about it, he knew how idiotic it would be, but the longer they were in this club the more he was tempted. Just one message he told himself. He probably wouldn’t even get an answer. It would be better if he didn’t get an answer. But he couldn’t not try. 

_It’s the night before my wedding and I want you._

Harry pressed send. God he was stupid. He went and got himself another drink. 

They headed back to Grimmauld place less than an hour later, although not before he’d been forced to partake in a round of shots and listen to a drunken speech from Ron. Hearing his friend drone on about how magical Harry’s relationship was and how happy he was, made Harry feel physically sick. How did none of them notice that he was the exact opposite of happy? He was miserable. But none of them did. All caught up in their own happiness and the alcohol they had drunk. The Weasley brothers were all supposed to be staying at his that evening so they could all get ready together in the morning. He wanted to tell them all to fuck off. He wanted to go into his house alone and lock himself away. He didn’t though. When they arrived at Grimmauld he let them all in and then they had tried to convince Harry to stay up and continue drinking with them. He waved them off. He might have let them into his home, but he still needed to be by himself. After downing a sobering potion, to stop the room from spinning and allow him to think clearly, he walked up the stairs to his room with shouts of “Old man” and “Ball and chain” following him. 

The second Harry entered his bedroom he knew he wasn’t alone. Draco Malfoy was sat in the chair by the window, his long limbs curled up underneath him. The moonlight shone down on his face taking Harry’s breath away.

“You came.” Harry said, stunned, closing the bedroom door behind him and casting locking and silencing charms.

“It’s the night before your wedding and you want me.” Draco didn’t look up as he said this, he just continued to stare out of the window.

“It is… and I do.” Harry crossed the room to Draco. He took the other man’s face in his hands, turning Draco’s head until they were eye to eye. “I always want you. But then you know that.”

“Do I?” Draco whispered.

Harry kissed the blond man, pouring every feeling he’d had over the night into the kiss. He dragged Draco to his feet and pulled him toward the bed. 

“Can’t you feel how much I need you?” Harry murmured against Draco’s lips. He was lying back on the bed, feet over the edge and Draco straddling him. “I didn’t think you’d come. When you didn’t reply to my message, I thought…” Harry’s hands were stroking under Draco’s shirt as he said this.

“Of course I came. You ask. I come. That’s how this little arrangement works right.” There was a bitterness in Draco’s tone as he said this. “Besides, this is my last chance to have you. It is the night before your wedding. After tomorrow we can’t see each other.”

Harry pulled Draco into him then. Claiming Draco’s mouth with his own. Pushing his hips up so that his erection could find friction against Draco. He wanted to bury all his guilt and regret into just feeling. Wanted to forget that this wasn’t something he was supposed to have. That tomorrow he’d have to give it up. He found the sensitive pulse point of Draco’s neck and teased it with his tongue. He could feel the other man start to respond. Then he was being pushed away. He could see the conflict on the blonde’s face.

“Please Draco.” He said, reaching his hand out to stroke Draco’s cheek lightly with his thumb. Draco didn’t respond for several minutes. They just sat there. Staring into each other’s eyes. 

Draco closed his eyes and shook his head before he spoke. “You’ll be the death of me Potter” Draco sighed before sitting up and removing his shirt. “Tonight you’re mine. Whoever’s you may be tomorrow is of no concern.” Draco said this last bit in a whisper and with such bitterness in his voice. Harry wished things were different. So he said the only thing he could.

“Tonight I’m yours,” and then he let himself be taken over with the feel of the other man.

________________________________

A noise woke Harry. His muscles ached and he still felt tired. He reached over, felt the long-limbed blond wrapped around him and smiled. He brushed a kiss against the sleeping man’s head and then snuggled his into the pillows, wanting nothing more than to fall back to sleep. Wanting to push what was meant to happen today from his mind. The knock at the door pulled him back to reality.

“Harry! Get out of bed you lazy sod. Breakfast is waiting downstairs.” Ron shouted, rattling the door handle. “Why’s the door locked anyway? It’s only us in the house.”

Harry looked down at Draco, who had woken at the racket Ron was making. He looked rumpled, half asleep, and more beautiful than ever.

“What’s going…” Draco started. He stopped suddenly as if only just realising where he was. 

“Please be quiet.” Harry whispered to Draco before raising his voice to reply to Ron. “I’ll be down in a bit. I’m just going to jump in the shower first.” Harry didn’t want to go downstairs though. He wanted to stay in here, wrapped in this bubble with Draco. The room smelt of sweat and sex. Harry was fairly certain he did too. Draco shifted beside him.

“I should go.” Draco said, looking round for his clothes.

“Please don’t.” Harry said, grabbing the other man’s wrist to stop him. Draco pulled his hand away forcefully.

“Harry, you have a pack of future brother in laws sat downstairs waiting for you to come down to breakfast. This afternoon you are marrying their sister. What the damn hell did you think was going to happen this morning? That everything would change, and we could suddenly be together. The Weasleys would have no compunction about lynching me if they knew I was in here.” Draco said this through gritted teeth. Harry knew what he said was true. Today was the day the world would see him marry the girl everyone always expected him to. It wasn’t what he wanted though. What he wanted was impossible. 

“We could run away together.” Harry spoke his wish out loud. They’d talked about it before, but Draco had always knocked him back. This time was no different.

“Where to Potter? There is nowhere in the world where the Saviour and a failed Death Eater can be happy. We had one last night Potter. It was fun. That was all this was. That’s all it can be. Now I’m going to go before any Weasley discovers me here. You are going to wash the smell of sex off yourself and go eat breakfast. By this evening you will be a married man who will forget all about his sordid affair with a marked man.”

“Draco…” Harry looked longingly up at the tall blond man.

“No Harry.” Draco said, making Harry want to cry at the use of his first name. Draco almost never used Harry’s name and Harry knew that he was using it now to say goodbye. “Look, I wasn’t going to tell you this, but you’ll see the announcement in the papers in a few day’s anyway. I’m engaged. Mother arranged it. In six months we’ll both be married, and this will just be one little mistake that neither of us ever mention.”

Harry just sat there silently. Watching Draco as he found his trousers and pulled them on. Then he continued rummaging for his shirt. Harry wanted to say something. Anything to stop this happening. There just wasn’t anything he could say. He started to get up. Wanting to move towards Draco and wrap him in his arms. Draco spoke before he managed to make it off the bed.

“Stop Harry. We can’t do this. You can’t do this to me.” With that Draco turned to the fireplace, he was only wearing his trousers, his shirt forgotten somewhere in the room. Harry could only stare, frozen, as the other man threw the silver powder into the fire and stepped into the green flames. Harry sat in shock on the bed for several moments unable to move. Eventually he managed to force his limbs to work. In the bathroom he turned on the shower on as hot as he could stand and stood under the stream. The last traces of Draco Malfoy washed away in a spiral down the drain.


	2. Hard to resist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its 6 months later and Draco's wedding is rapidly approaching

Draco had spent the last 6 months trying to distract himself. The first few weeks were the worst. There’d been the pictures of the happy couple on their wedding day. Then the two of them on their honeymoon. Every time Harry appeared in the paper Draco had had to incendio it in order to stop himself obsessing over the photos. To stop himself from looking for any signs that Harry might be missing him. He’d gotten rid of his phone and bought himself a new one with a new number. He’d blocked Harry and any post he may or may not send from his wards. He had cut all ways of Harry communicating with him off. He didn’t know what would have been worst; receiving messages from Harry or Harry not trying to contact him at all. This way he couldn’t be tempted. Not knowing was better. Easier to deal with than temptation or rejection. Instead he helped his mother plan the wedding. Spent hours in his potions’ labs. Even took his fiancée out for dinner. Anything to close his mind off from the traitorous thoughts that would try and creep in if he stopped even for a second. It worked, in the most part. At least he thought it had. But now there was only one week to go until his own wedding, and he could feel his resolve faltering. He got out his phone and typed in the number that was burnt into his memory. Sending just three words.

_The usual place_

Draco pressed send and regretted it instantly. He hated how weak he was. Still, it wasn’t enough to stop him apparating to the hotel he and Harry had used to use for their rendezvous. It had been the place that they’d escaped to. Where no one knew who they were. Where they weren’t the two people who’d fought on opposite sides of a war. He walked into the little hotel, booked a room for the night and then went and straight to the bar. He ordered himself a large gin and tonic and waited. He knew that Harry would know the message was from him. Even from the unknown number. He didn’t know whether the other man would show up though. He didn’t even really know if he wanted him to. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t do this. But as his wedding had drawn closer, he understood why Harry had messaged him that last night. Why despite all of their promises to stay away from each other, the night before he’d married the Weasley girl he had pulled Draco into his bed.

Half an hour passed, then an hour. Harry wasn’t coming. It was better this way. This was all the closure he needed. Draco finished the last of his drink and stood up to settle his bill. That was when he saw him. He looked thinner than Draco remembered. Tired in a way that Draco didn’t like. Dark circles under his eyes. They stared at each other across the room for several long minutes before Draco turned around and made his way towards the lifts. He knew that Harry would follow.

Draco could feel Harry stood behind him as he waited for the lift doors to open. The lift was empty when it arrived at the ground flood and he stepped in and pressed the button for the 3rd floor, where the room he’d booked was. They both just stood in silence in the enclosed space as the lift carried them upwards. Then they were walking down the corridor, through the mini labyrinth of rooms. Draco fumbled with the key card when he got to the door of their room. He couldn’t get the damn thing to work. He could feel himself shaking. Then the warm familiar hand closed over his and eased the card from his fingers. He turned and looked into Harry’s too green eyes and knew he was lost.

“Shhh, it’s okay Love. I’m here.” Harry said as he reached his hand to Draco’s face. His thumb wiping away the tears that Draco couldn’t hold back. 

_______________________________

Harry felt like he’d spent the last six months walking around in a haze. He spent all his time play acting that he was happy. Going to the Weasley’s for dinner every Sunday. Ron and Hermione’s Tuesdays and Fridays. Pub night with his old school friends Saturdays. He did everything to pretend to his wife and family that all was well. That he hadn’t made the biggest mistake of his life. So he smiled and laughed with his friends and family. Bought his wife little gifts to make her happy. To make her not notice that he was avoiding spending time alone with her. When they did have sex, which was rarely, he managed to focus on ensuring she was enjoying it. He distracted her with pleasure. He couldn’t let her see that how much he struggled to maintain an erection. That he was never able to come inside her. When she tried to talk to him about his lack of interest in sex, he blamed the trauma of the war. It had only been two years since it had finished. She seemed to buy the excuse, although it made him feel sick having to use the trauma of the war to cover up how he was really feeling. He threw himself into his work. Staying late to finish paperwork. Volunteering to be on call at every opportunity. Work was a good excuse. Better than telling her that he didn’t love her. That he was in love with someone else. That their whole marriage was a sham. 

He knew he’d lost weight. Food just didn’t hold any interest for him. He hardly slept. He’d lie next to Ginny and stare at the ceiling. Most nights he just gave up trying to sleep. Instead he’d quietly sneak out of the bedroom they shared and go up the stairs to his old room. The room he kept locked, warded and unchanged since the morning of the wedding. He’d sit in there and picture what Draco was doing. Whether Draco was a miserable as he was or whether he’d been able to move forward with his life. He’d caved and texted Draco less than a week into his honeymoon. The message wouldn’t send, and neither would any of the subsequent ones he’d tried. He sent owls, but they retuned with the letters still attached to their legs. He even tried calling, which they had never done. The number was disconnected. Draco had cut him off. Still when he was sat in this room, he’d pull out his phone and look through the old messages and lose himself in the memories until he could eventually fall asleep exhausted, curled up with the abandoned shirt in the sheets that he refused to have cleaned.

Harry was sat in Ron and Hermione’s living room. Ginny was helping Hermione with the cooking in the kitchen, so it was just him and Ron. He hadn’t managed to fall asleep till some time after 4am and then woken less than two hours later with the dawn. He knew Ron was talking but he couldn’t concentrate for long enough to work out what he was saying. He felt like he was underwater, with sounds struggling to travel to his ears. Then his phone buzzed, pulling out of the fog in his head for a second. He looked down at it and saw the text message from the unknown number. He knew who it was from. He stood up and walked towards the door. Forgetting where he was and who was with. He just knew he had to go to him.

“Harry, where are you going?” Ron said, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him out of his daze.

“I just need to go. All right.”

“Harry you haven’t listened to a single thing I’ve said all afternoon, then you just stand up and try and leave. What the hell is going on?”

“I need to go.” Harry’s shattered brain couldn’t think up any excuse.

“No” Ron was shouting. “You are going to stay here. We’re going to have dinner. You will make pleasant conversation with me and Hermione. You will talk to your wife. We will eat a nice meal. Then you are going to tell us what the fuck is going on. You can’t just walk out of here without an explanation.”

Harry suddenly felt a wave of fury pass over him, reenergising him in a way he hadn’t felt since he’d gotten married. “No I will not.” Harry saw Ginny and Hermione walk out of the kitchen at the shouting. “I’m leaving. Now. Unless you want to physically restrain me there is nothing you can do.” Harry shook Ron’s hand off his shoulder and stormed out of the flat.

Harry felt free. Giddy. It was like he was suddenly awake again after sleepwalking for months. The exhaustion that had been overpowering had temporarily left him. He apparated home first. He looked at himself in the mirror in the hall and grimaced. He was a mess. He didn’t go to the room he shared with Ginny. Instead he went to his old bedroom. He got into the shower, quickly washed and shaved, then rummaged through the wardrobe to find some clothes. There wasn’t much left up here and he thought he should probably go and grab something from the room he used now. He heard noises from downstairs. They’d come to find him. ‘No going to get some better clothes then’ he thought to himself and he threw on the trousers he’d been wearing earlier. Casting a quick cleaning charm at the crumpled shirt in the bed he threw that on too. It was a testament to how much weight he’d lost that it actually fit. He could hear them coming up the stairs now. They shouldn’t be able to get through the wards into this bedroom. They might not even realise he was in here with the various silencing and protection charms on the room. He was thankful that there was still floo powder in the pot, as he didn’t particularly fancy breaking through the wards to apparate out. He threw the powder into the flames and they turned green. He stepped through into the fire just as he heard Ron hammering on the door. Landing in the Ministry he ran to the apparition point. He knew that the other people milling around the lobby must think him mad, but he didn’t care. He was alive again.

___________________________

Harry had managed to get the key card to work and drag Draco into the room. Then their mouths were on each other. Draco’s hands tugged at the familiar shirt the other man was wearing. He couldn’t believe Harry still had it. He remembered abandoning it to escape before he broke down that day. His fingers worked at the buttons. He needed the material out of the way. Harry had sensed what he was doing and pulled their mouths apart, shrugging the now undone shirt off his shoulders. Draco lifted his arms up as Harry lifted the jumper, he was wearing over his shoulders and then made quick work divesting Draco of his shirt too. The moved back towards the bed. Harry sat Draco on the edge and then very deliberately knelt between his legs. Harry’s mouth nipped, licked and teased as he worked off Draco’s trousers and boxers. Draco lifting his hips to help, staring down at this perfect man. Draco let out a gasp as he felt the warm wetness surround his aching cock. It didn’t take long before pleasure whited out all thoughts from Draco’s mind.

Eventually they’d fallen asleep, sticky and sated, in each other’s arms. When the dawn light came through the window, they’d both woken. Draco couldn’t believe how different he felt today compared to yesterday. That he hadn’t even realised until Harry was stood in front of him that he’d been nothing more than a shell, going through the motions, for six months.

“Harry, what do we do now?” Draco had whispered, scared that they would leave this room, and everything would just go back to how it was yesterday.

“We leave.” Harry said simply and Draco felt the weight of yesterday start to creep back in.

“That’s it.” Draco replied, unbale to keep the melancholy from his voice. “We just go back to our separate lives and pretend that this didn’t happen. Again.”

“No.” Harry exclaimed and pulled Draco tight into him as if he thought he was going to try and walk out again. As if he could. It had been hard enough before. Draco knew he didn’t have it in him to do it this time. Harry continued “We leave together. We run. I know you said it was a ridiculous idea. That it was impossible. I don’t care. We’ve both got more money than we know what to do with. We can use it to hide. To see the world. Whatever we want to do. Together.”

“But Harry, what about your friends? Your job? Your wife?” Draco wasn’t sure whether the edge of panic he felt now was down to apprehension or excitement.

“I don’t care about any of that. I know what I can live with. I can live without them. I cannot live without you. These last six months have taught me that at least.”

Draco found himself grinning uncontrollably. "So we run. Where to?”

“I’ve no idea.” Harry laughed and Draco was sure if they’d been standing, rather than curled up together in the bed, Harry would have picked Draco up and swirled him round. “We need to cover our tracks. They’ll search. I left my phone at the house. They won’t get into the room and find it for a while, at least a week, so they shouldn’t be able to track us that way if we’re quick. We should get rid of yours though.”

“Okay, first job. Dump the phone. Then I think we should go to the Manor.” Draco’s brain felt like it was working on overtime. 

“But your mother…”

“Will help us.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. She knows what it’s like for me in England. She knows I never wanted to marry a woman. I was doing that for her. But I know that more than anything she wants me to be happy. She will help hide us. I think Blaise would help too. He has a villa in Tuscany. We can head there from the Manor.” Draco said, thinking out loud. “I’m sure he’ll be a little shocked to see the two of us turn up unannounced, but it can’t be helped. We can work out the rest there.”

“Well it’s a start.”

“It’s a start.”

“And we’re really doing this.”

“We really are. We should leave as soon as possible.”

Without bothering to shower the two of them threw on the clothes they’d been wearing the day before and walked out of the hotel. The birds were singing in the early morning light. 


	3. 10 years later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A decade later and Harry hasn't been found.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although it’s not necessary to, if you want to read the series in chronological order skip this chapter and go to Coming Home. There is a note in that story to say when to come back.

It had been 10 years now, and no one had seen or heard anything from Harry Potter. He’d just disappeared. Hermione and Ron had searched but there had been no trace of him. The Auror’s had searched too but had had no better luck. They’d gotten reports from all of the witnesses that had seen him dash madly through the Ministry that day but hadn’t been able to track his movements any further. It had taken them six weeks to break through the wards on Harry’s old room in Grimmauld place. Ron and Hermione had had to get Bill in to do it in the end. The room had been filthy when they’d finally gotten in. It smelled musty and unused, and there was dust coating every surface. Worse, the sheets looked like they hadn’t been washed in months and Hermione had winced in disgust at the obvious semen stains. The t-shirt and jacket Harry had been wearing when he ran out of their house had been left abandoned on the floor. They’d found his phone in the jacket pocket. The last text message he’d received didn’t hold many clues. It had come from an unknown number, and the message itself didn’t tell them anything about where Harry might have gone, or why he’d just abandoned his life. When they tried contacting the number it had been disconnected. They had managed to trace the last place the phone had been, before whoever it belonged to had abandoned it, but the phone itself was long gone by that point. They guessed that the owner of the phone had removed the battery before dumping it in a bin at the airport and taking a flight out of the country. There were no records of Harry Potter on any of the flights that had left in the two weeks following his disappearance. 

Looking through some of the old messages held more clues. But the more they read, the more dismayed they were at what Harry was hiding. There were messages, spanning the 18 months leading up to Harry’s disappearance, between Harry and an unknown person. The last one had been sent by Harry the day before Harry and Ginny’s wedding. There were also several afterwards, that Harry had written, but they’d all failed to send. When they tried to contact whomever this person was, they discovered that that number was disconnected too. There were no indications as to who this person was in any of the messages either. When they tried phone company, to trace who these numbers belonged to, they found they were both pay and you go mobiles with no name attached. The whole situation was unbelievably frustrating. The messages did make one thing obvious, however. Harry had been having some kind of affair with this person. That Harry had been going behind everyone’s backs and lying to them for more than a year. Ron had been furious when he read the message from the night before the wedding. He couldn’t believe that Harry had messaged someone to come to him when he’d been getting married to his little sister the following morning. He’d remembered the locked door and shouting at Harry to get up. He knew that whoever that person was had still been in the house, and all of them had been oblivious to it. Hermione didn’t know what she felt. She’d seen how Harry had changed. She had known something was upsetting him but had bought his lies. Over and over again he had lied to them. She wasn’t sure whether she could forgive that and was almost certain she couldn’t forgive him for his selfishness in leaving them all like this. 

Both Ron and Hermione had tried to keep their suspicions about the affair from Ginny at first. Afraid it would make things worse. She’d been devastated at Harry’s disappearance. She jumped at every owl, expecting there to be news of her husband. Then about, 6 months after Harry’s disappearance, the notice from Gringotts had come. The various bank accounts, that had been untouched up until that point, had been closed. All the money moved from Harry’s personal accounts to a new untraceable account; Ginny’s name removed. Harry’s name had also been removed from the joint account, which had had a substantial amount of extra gold placed in it. It was after this happened that they caved and told her about the messages and what they thought they meant. Not everything, they still wanted to protect her from some things, but most of it. Ginny spent the best part of the next week sobbing in bed. It had taken nearly a year after that for her to start moving on with her life. 

The family were all at the Burrow. It was their regular Saturday morning brunch. They were all sat in the garden enjoying the warm spring sunshine. Hermione smiled looking at her daughter making daisy chains on the lawn with Ginny and felt a kick from the baby growing inside her. She started to walk over to Rosie and Ginny, thinking she’d join them on the grass. It was days like this when she felt happiest. Something caught her eye before she reached the pair on the grass, and she looked up to see an owl flying towards them. She stared as it dropped a large envelope at Ginny’s feet before landing in front of her with a small note attached to its leg. Hermione took the note and the owl flew off immediately. She opened the note and gasped at the familiar scrawl. Tears started to well in her eyes as she read the short message over and over. 

_I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused. You’ll never know how sorry but please know I’m happy. You won’t be able to trace this note, nor the papers I sent to Ginny. Please don’t try, as it would only waste your time. I wish you all the happiness in the world._

_Harry._

“Hermione, what is it?” Ron said, coming over to where she was stood. Hermione didn’t answer and just passed the note over. Ginny was looking up at her, holding the envelope that she’d received. She hadn’t opened it yet, distracted by Hermione’s obvious distress. 

“That fucking bastard.” Ron exclaimed as soon as he’d finished reading. “That selfish fucking prick.” He screwed up the note and threw it on the floor. “Ten fucking years and this is all we get.” 

Hermione tried to block the sound of Ron shouting out. She went and picked up her daughter and took her inside away from her father’s ranting. The four-year-old didn’t need to be exposed to this.

“What wrong with Daddy?” Rosie asked.

“Nothing’s wrong, sweetheart. Daddy’s just a little cross right now. Not at you or Mummy though. So there’s nothing to worry about.”

Rosie seemed to accept the explanation. Then she spoke again.

“Why is Mummy sad?”

“I’m fine sweety.” Hermione didn’t know what to do. What was she supposed to tell her little girl to explain this? She tried to distract instead. “Why don’t we go find Grampy? You could do some painting with him. You like painting with Grampy”

“But Mummy is sad. I don’t like when mummy sad.” And the little girl started to cry. Hermione just pulled her tight against her, hugging her daughter and gently rocking her from side to side. Both comforting her daughter and seeking her own comfort in the little arms wrapped around her. There was nothing else she could do.

Molly came in and rescued her.

“Let me take her. You go back out there.”

“Thanks Molly. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Hermione walked back outside to see that Ron was still in the same state. Storming around the garden and shouting. She wished she knew what to say to make this better but knew the only thing she could really do was to leave him to it. Eventually his anger would blow over by itself. She went and sat next to Ginny.

“What’s in the envelope, Gin?” Hermione asked her sister-in-law. 

“I don’t know. I still haven’t opened it. Was the note really from Harry?”

“Yes. Do you think anything else would set Ron off quite like that? It didn’t say much though. He said he was sorry.”

“Like him being sorry makes any difference at this point.” Ginny said and Hermione could hear the hurt in her voice. She watched as Ginny took a deep breath to calm herself before she was able to continue. “I wish I could just not care. It would be so much easier that way.” Ginny let out another sigh. “Let’s see if he has any more to say in this.”

Ginny opened the envelope and pulled out an official looking letter on expensive headed paper, along with a wedge of paper that looked like some kind of document. They read the letter together. Hermione felt a creeping sensation make its way through her gut as she read it. She couldn’t believe Harry was actually doing this.

“I guess this is it then.” Ginny said when she’d read to the bottom of the page.

“I guess it is. He’s not going to come back. Are you going to sign the papers?” Hermione replied.

“I think it’s probably for the best.”

“We could try and find him through the solicitors he’s hired. I don’t care what his note says about it being impossible.”

“He’s not worth the trouble. Besides if he doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be. It’s not like we haven’t already tried to find him. He wants to be gone.”

“I just hate not knowing what happened.” 

“You know he’s alive. That he disappeared of his own accord and wasn’t kidnapped. That’s something.” Ginny tried to reassure her.

“I suppose you’re right. Doesn’t stop it from hurting though.”

____________________________

Harry couldn’t believe it when he received the official documents from his Solicitors. Ginny had signed the paperwork without a fight. He was officially free again. Both he and Draco had known it had been a risk getting in contact, but this made it worth every galleon and painstaking procedure he’d had to go through in order to ensure they wouldn’t be found. He walked out onto the balcony of their home, to where Draco was sat reading the paper and eating fresh fruit for breakfast; the morning Tuscan sun shining down. He walked behind him and put his arms around the blonde man before kissing him. He then moved to sit in the chair next to Draco and served himself up a bowel of fruit with yoghurt.

“Anything interesting in there today, Love?” Harry inquired.

“Is there ever anything interesting in this rag.” Draco replied and put the paper down, then noticing the letter in Harry’s hand, asked. “What do you have there?”

Harry beamed at Draco, unable to contain his joy. “Guess.”

Rather than replying Draco stood up and grabbed at the letter, pulling it out of his hands and making Harry laugh. He saw Draco’s face light up as he read the official letter confirming Harry’s divorce.

“She signed them. She actually fucking signed them.”

“She did. Now come here. I want to celebrate no longer being married.” And Harry reached out to pull Draco into his lap. Harry could feel himself getting hard as he kissed Draco, whilst the other man straddled him. Harry stood up and with Draco’s legs wrapped around his waist, carried the man he loved into their bedroom.

They were naked under the thin sheets, the balcony door open letting in the warmth and sunshine, as well as a pleasant breeze. Draco’s head was resting on Harry’s chest and Harry gently played with the soft blond hair, watching as the sunlight reflecting off the hair, turned the strands gold. There was nothing Harry loved more than lying in bed with the man he adored.

“Harry.” Draco spoke, breaking the silence.

“Yes, Love.”

“Do you ever regret running away with me like this?”

Harry sat up and pulled Draco with him into his lap. He could guess why Draco was bringing this up today, but he hated that the man he loved ever felt insecure about their relationship in this way. He kissed Draco passionately before he replied. Needing to reassure him.

“Not for a second, Love.”

“But your friends. I know you miss them. You gave up so much. Just to be with me.”

“And I’d do exactly the same again. Our life here couldn’t be more perfect. I wouldn’t change it for the world. We have a beautiful house. Great friends. Even your mother likes me. And most importantly, I have you.” Harry kissed Draco on the nose to emphasis his point.

“Sap” Draco replied, laughing.

“Only for you.”

“I love you; you know. I do have one more question though. Do you think we’ll ever go back there?”

“I love you too. And as for going back, I don’t know. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like to step near my old life again. But I can’t see it. I’m not that person anymore. Even if we went back, it wouldn’t be the same. I think one day I might be strong enough to let them know the truth though”

Harry noticed Draco frown slightly at this, as if he were worried that Harry might see his old friends some day and decide that he wasn’t enough. He manoeuvred Draco underneath him, showing him with his body exactly how much the blonde man meant to him. When they’d finished, he could see in the contented and sated look in Draco’s eyes that meant, at least for now, Draco had no doubts about how he felt. He snuggled himself into Draco’s neck.

“Come on now, enough of that Harry.” Draco pushed him away and sat up. “Pansy and Blaise are coming over later and they’d prefer us not to be naked and in bed when they arrive.”

“But I prefer you naked and in bed.” Harry tried to pull Draco back towards him. Draco just rolled his eyes and continued to move away.

“That may be, but there is a whole day ahead of us, and we can’t just stay here.”

_______________________

Draco stood up taking the sheet with him, leaving Harry on the bed and walked over to the ensuite bathroom to shower. Draco thought, as the hot water and soap washed over him, that maybe the two of them could head down to the pool and spend the day relaxing by the water. Pansy and Blaise would join them this evening, and they’d drink too many cocktails. Stay up too late talking. Then tomorrow Harry would tease him about his hangover. His life was perfect. They’d escaped everything a decade ago. He could still remember it like it was yesterday. Leaving the hotel in the early hours of the morning. Heading to the airport to dump his phone. Harry throwing his wedding band in the same bin, before they apparated to the Manor. His mother had been horrified, at first, when they’d shown up and told her what they were going to do. But she could see there was no stopping him, so she gave him her blessing and promised that she’d sort everything out to cancel his own upcoming wedding as discreetly as possible. It couldn’t be known that the two of them had vanished at the same time. She’d also made them promise to keep in touch. Then the two of them flooed from there to Blaise’s house, to plan what to do next. They’d spent the next 6 months travelling the world, using glamours to avoid being recognised when in public. When they returned to Blaise’s, both he and Draco’s mum had helped them to sort out Harry’s bank accounts. Cutting him off as completely as they could from his old life. Then they bought the house they now lived in and started their new life. They stopped worrying so much about being found, feeling secure in the exclusive village they lived in. Draco had been able to set up a successful potions business and Harry had started writing children’s stories. It had been a shock to both of them when the first one had been published, but Harry’s books turned out to be immensely popular. Draco knew Harry liked to imagine his friends reading them to their children. Picturing them reading the dedication but not knowing it was for them. _To my friends, who I love and who supported me through the tough times. Even though I can’t be with you now, know that you still mean the world to me._

They’d kept up with what was happening back in England as much as they dared. When Harry had heard the announcement that Ron and Hermione’s first child had been born, he’d set up a trust to be held until they turned 25. Draco liked to imagine the look on Ron’s face when Rose Weasley received the owl when she came of age to find out that in a few short years she’d have more money than her parents could have dreamed of. It was the day that Harry set up the trust, that they first started talking about Harry asking for a divorce and began planning how they would do it. It had taken them four years to actually manage it.

When Draco re-entered the bedroom, flushed from the shower and with the towel wrapped round his waist, Harry wasn’t there. Draco guessed that he’d be downstairs in his study, writing. He smiled as he thought of how he was going to tempt him out of the little room and into the sunshine for the day. This wasn’t the life he had ever expected. He had more happiness than he thought was possible. More than he deserved. Maybe there was just one more piece of happiness he could ask for, however. Once he was dressed, he headed to his own study. He went into the drawer that only he could access. He pulled out the small box that had been sat in there for the last few years. This was the day he’d waited for. He opened the box to look at the understated platinum band. He closed the box again and slipped it into his pocket and went to find Harry. Tonight. Tonight the time was finally right. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So originally this story was just meant to be a short one shot to try and fix my writers block but it’s ended up expanding into two other works. The story leading up to this is now complete, although obviously does not have a happy ending. I’m nearly done with the sequel too, which starts immediately following Harry getting up and walking out of Ron and Hermione’s.


End file.
